Uthographer



UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

ALMGND D. FISK, OF NEI/V YORK, N. Y.

iMPRovEMENT aN coi-'F|Ns.

.To all whom t 11i/ty concern Be it known that I, ALMOND D'. FISK, of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful manner of constructing an Air-Tight Coffin of Cast or Raised Metal; and I do hereby declare that the following' is a full and exact description thereof. v A

The objects kept in view in the construction of my metallic coffin are such as to cast or form it with the least possible quantity of metal, by means of which lightness is obtained, and this I effect, in part, by making it to conform as nearly as may be with the form of the human body.

The pattern of the coffin consists of two shells, an upper and a lower, which join together in a horizontal line in the'center, the two parts being of the same or nearly the same depth. The two shells are more or less curvilinear in nearly all their parts, and they may be made as thin as the running of the metal will admit, while they have more than suflicient strength to resist any pressure to which, in use, they are subjected.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a top view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of my metallic coffin. Fig. 3 is a cross-section thereof in the linea: of Fig. l; Fig. 4, a cross-section in the line y y, and Fig. 5 a cross-section in the line z z.

These sectional views show the curvilinear form of the two shells. A A show the line of their junction, each being furnished with a iiange or projecting rim for the reception of screws or rivets, the juncture being made tight by means of the well-known iron cem;

ent, or by any other cement which may be preferred, and which will answer a like purpose.

In the drawings I have represented a cross B on the breast of the coffin, and I have also shown handles C C of a particular form; but/f vthese of course have not anything to do with" the construction of my coffin, and may be used or omitted at pleasure.

It has been the practice, occasionally with cast metal or of composition co'hns, to place a round plate of glass, cemented air-tight, over the face of the,V deceased. A metallic plate covering such glass is shown at D. From a coffin of this description the air maybe eX- hausted so completely as entirely to prevent the decayof the contained body on principles wellfunderstood; or, if preferred, the coffin may be filled with any gas or fluid having the property of preventing putrefaction.

Having thus fully described and represented the manner in which I construct my airtight cast or raised metal coffin, what Iclaim therein as new, and desire to secure by Let` ters Patent, is-

The manufacturing of coftins of cast or raised metal when made substantially in the form described and represented-that is -to say, corresponding nearly to the humanform, and in combination therewith the making of the cofn in two nearly-equal parts united horizontally by the fiange, substantially as set forth.`

ALMOND D. FISK. Witnesses; j

L. WILLIAMS, J. S. FIsK. 

